Indoors ventilation in a harsh winter climate

[isetmyweedonfire]

Hey guys! So I’m expanding my grow space and I got stuck trying to figure out how to set up the ventilation.

My new space is about 250 sq. ft big and I have LED lights so the heat from the lights shouldn’t be a problem. I’ve never had such a big space before though and I just don’t understand how to go about the ventilation. I should mention I live in a place with really cold winters. The temperature can get down to -22°F, sometimes even lower.

So my questions are:

What kind of outtake fan should I get?
Will passive intake be enough to cover this space?
If I need active intake, what kind of fan should I get?
How do I heat up the intake air immediately (in the winter) so that my plants don’t get a frostbite? I have a good heater but I doubt it’ll heat the intake air fast enough considering how cold the intake air can be in the winter.
Will a regular A/C be enough to cool the room in the summer?

Any thoughts or advice will be appreciated. Thank you!

[growell]

Get fans which move the most air mate best not to have it bringing outside air in vent from another room also keep pots off floor maybe buy 600watt hps they will heat room and tents heaters u will need them in room i would buy 1 see how that works get another and so on i think u struggle with them temps mate but if u get enough gear it will work cover walls in reflective stuff hope this helps fan size inline 8 to 10inch

[MeEasy]

My two cents might not be worth a penny but I'll chime in without experience just my opinion. The main reason for outside air circulation is (unless I'm wrong) for cooling the air and replacing the oxygen the plants make with co2 from outside your space. So I'm thinking that you should get a burner that makes co2 they sell em for grow setups. It would assist in warming your space and add co2. Now I have to say again I don't have experience with these I've only heard about them and I recommend research and or someone's advice who has used one

[Jordann]

I ran a 200 sqft grow room for 4 years before I moved. I had 2 10 inch exhaust fans going outside with a 10 inch intake, passive, no intake fan but I cut the 10 inch down to 4 four inch lines and had one of the 4 in each corner, at the top. I'm in northern Ontario and grew led in the summer and hid in the winter, never needed more heating in the winter and the spread of intake hoses heated themselves enough to not worry as the air dumps into the room it warms quickly, I had an actuator that shut the intake when the lights shut off and open as the lights come on. Always needed a large a.c. in the summer and forced air intake in the summer as well. Exhaust and intake on 24/7 in the summer. Get ready to cut some holes in your walls. I was in a location where smell was not a problem so I didn't worry about filters bringing down the cfm of airflow but if you need filters you might need a third 10 inch exhaust line. Any intake from outside needs a very fine mesh screen. Your room will need give or take 6 to 10 12 inch fans for circulation within the room. If your taking fresh air from within the house it will add costs for heating and cooling your house. As you'll be drawing lots of air and blowing it outside. Kind of like drawing mon ey from the account and giving it away to the less fortunate, it might feel good but it'll hurt. I have to go but I'll expand on this if you have any further questions. Don't fool yourself if you replace 1000 watts of hps with 1000 watts of led, the heat difference is negligible and you'll need the same amount of cooling. I ran 6 1000 watt hps or mh for the winter and 5000 watts of led during the summer but 6000 watts of led will warm the room considerably to the point that you'll only need a heater during the dark cycle. But if the room seals at night it should hold it's heat over the 6 or 12 hours of dark. Again gotta go lol be back later.

[isetmyweedonfire]

I ran a 200 sqft grow room for 4 years before I moved. I had 2 10 inch exhaust fans going outside with a 10 inch intake, passive, no intake fan but I cut the 10 inch down to 4 four inch lines and had one of the 4 in each corner, at the top. I'm in northern Ontario and grew led in the summer and hid in the winter, never needed more heating in the winter and the spread of intake hoses heated themselves enough to not worry as the air dumps into the room it warms quickly, I had an actuator that shut the intake when the lights shut off and open as the lights come on. Always needed a large a.c. in the summer and forced air intake in the summer as well. Exhaust and intake on 24/7 in the summer. Get ready to cut some holes in your walls. I was in a location where smell was not a problem so I didn't worry about filters bringing down the cfm of airflow but if you need filters you might need a third 10 inch exhaust line. Any intake from outside needs a very fine mesh screen. Your room will need give or take 6 to 10 12 inch fans for circulation within the room. If your taking fresh air from within the house it will add costs for heating and cooling your house. As you'll be drawing lots of air and blowing it outside. Kind of like drawing mon ey from the account and giving it away to the less fortunate, it might feel good but it'll hurt. I have to go but I'll expand on this if you have any further questions. Don't fool yourself if you replace 1000 watts of hps with 1000 watts of led, the heat difference is negligible and you'll need the same amount of cooling. I ran 6 1000 watt hps or mh for the winter and 5000 watts of led during the summer but 6000 watts of led will warm the room considerably to the point that you'll only need a heater during the dark cycle. But if the room seals at night it should hold it's heat over the 6 or 12 hours of dark. Again gotta go lol be back later.

That was helpful, thanks man. There's still a bunch of things I need to think through.
How powerful were your 10 inch exhaust fans? Do you still have pictures of your 200 sqft grow room?

[growell]

black orchid fans are good decent price aswell move decent amount of air i would look at decibell levels if noise an issue mate

[isetmyweedonfire]

black orchid fans are good decent price aswell move decent amount of air i would look at decibell levels if noise an issue mate

Cheers I'll look into it!

[homegrown]

Thats a really big grow area, lucky you! Are you planning on filling it with plants? How many lights do you have and what kind are they? What are the temps in the surrounding area? And do you have to vent outside OR can you just exhaust/vent through a fan and charcoal filter into adjacent room? Passive air should be fine unless its sealed up tight as a drum.

[isetmyweedonfire]

Thats a really big grow area, lucky you! Are you planning on filling it with plants? How many lights do you have and what kind are they? What are the temps in the surrounding area? And do you have to vent outside OR can you just exhaust/vent through a fan and charcoal filter into adjacent room? Passive air should be fine unless its sealed up tight as a drum.

Yep, planning to fill it in with plants eventually. But for now I'm only gonna use some of the space since I have 6 350W LED lights and can't afford to get more. The temps here go from -31 in the winter to 90 in the summer. In theory I could vent into adjacent room but I don't see why should I? It'd be difficult to cool that adjacent room down in the summer, too.

[MeEasy]

I'm sure that I'm not the only one who gets what seems to be 100 emails a day from Amazon trying to sell shit but sometimes they actually send something worth looking at and yesterday they sent me this light. I've never heard of the brand but if it does as it says it would definitely be worth the money they want for it. $110 for 235w actual draw and says full spectrum 5x5 footprint there were different watt models. Only reason I even brought it up is with all the space you have, this light for the money you could light the state of RI for a few hundred bucks... with the new quantum boards these fan models are getting cheaper.... just thought I'd share good luck and keep us updated with pics I like seeing other setups and steal ideas

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07QY16YRD/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_FqEyFb6VXKEM1

[FunkyButtLovin]

You're not even half ass lighting up a 5 x 5 with a 8" x 15" box pushing 220w of cheap blurple. I would suggest 6-8 of those for a 5 x 5 if you wanted good intensity over the whole tent. 4-5 pull about enough wattage but their footprint sucks.

[MeEasy]

Nobody said it was top of the line but 50 cents per watt of full spectrum even being older technology is a good price, I didn't mean to offend you

[CanadaBuddy]

Check the spec on those cheap LED's. Look close and you will see that some of the lights stay on low when they are turned off during the night. That is not a good thing for your plants.

[MeEasy]

I didn't really check em out I just glanced at an add sent to me and thought this guy is trying to light a football field and as cheap as the lights were I thought as a temporary move he could light it up with a couple hundred bucks. They're full spectrum and look to be the same thing that thousands of people have been successfully growing under for years before the quantum boards came out. I still use two off brand blurples I get a couple ounces out of a couple times a year

Again I didn't mean to offend anyone